


tease

by casetrippy



Category: The Devil's Engine - Alexander Gordon Smith
Genre: F/F, Gen, Illegal activity, Mission Almost Gone Wrong, Pre-Canon, Stress, idk this is first work in the tag tho so heyy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 02:26:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10732227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casetrippy/pseuds/casetrippy
Summary: Pan and Night find themselves influencing each other in two little ways.





	tease

Night keeps bouncing her knee.

  
Normally, Pan wouldn't think anything of this. Night forever seems restless when she isn't running, her strides gracefully weaving between every moment in a way Pan could never master even when asking the Engine for speed herself. The tic is second nature to Night, and so her knee keeps jumping.

It's the noise that sets Pan on edge. Particularly in this instance as she and Night were gripping for dear life inside of the thrashing stolen van that was desperately swerving onto the nearest exit on the highway, the strange pounding giving the impression that the van is about to burst. Pan grits her teeth as her head knocks back against the wall of the car, black spots bursting into her vision.

And Night keeps bouncing her knee.

Pan's watch confirms forty five minutes left, in theory enough time for Herc to ship their collective asses out of the highway and into the relative country side. With each barely concealed curse under his breath, she feels her stomach twist and pulled taut by invisible strings. The pounding intensifies. She tries to focus on the game plan once they make it out: they need to ditch the van as soon as they make it far enough away from the highway. The Lawyers were already on their contracts now, Night would be out with fifteen minutes to spare, and Pan, well, with a lot less. (Go figure Pan over-preforms) Once they can secure a position, they'll need to ditch the car as far as they can until the Lawyers can crack the-

"KNEE, NIGHT!"

Pan's thoughts disappear from her concentration with a puff as the pounding inside the car reaches to the critical peak of her frustration. The pounding ceases as Night steadies herself and Pan feels the slightest twinge of guilt for snapping so loudly. Night glances between Pan and Herc as she bites her lip.

"Perdón," Night mumbles.

Somehow, she keeps forgetting that the rapid bounce with her leg combined with the Engine's powers resulted in an vibration that sounded more like a piercing mini jackhammer.

Night was breaking out into the same cold sweat that Pan was, her face infinitely more gaunt and soulless than it did when Pan saw her that morning. This was Night's second mission, but Pan knew regardless of how many they could go on, it'll always feel like their last.

Night closes her watery eyes, mouthing something that almost seems like a prayer but when her finally gives through, she repeats, "We can do it, we can do it."

Forty minutes left. Herc pipes up from the front seat, "They're going to crack it, Night. We're almost there, shit, by the time we've dispatched you probably won't even be under contract anymore."

"What about Pan?" The words seem to come to a shock to both Pan and Night, the latter of which staring at her with shining brown eyes and a brow furrowed into concern.

"You focus on you," Pan replies, sharp as ever. "Remember, you're going to be out before I am so focus on getting as far from the van while you still have your speed."

The van lurched, hitting a speed bump with such force that everyone inside experienced a brief surreal moment in flight, before crashing down with a thud followed by a cacophony of swears by all three parties involved.

"Jesus Christ, Herc! What the fuck?"

"You're fucking fine, Pan."

"A fourteen year old without his goddamn license would be a better driver than you," she spat in reply. She didn't bother to meet Herc's glare through the rear view mirror. It's the choked up giggle from Night that catches her attention however, the girl in question stifling what must be the biggest shit eating grin of the century.

"What?"

"Your knee," Night points. And there it was. Bouncing. Pan flexes her leg, giving the internal command to cut-that-shit-out-right-now. The dead gauntness still remained on Night's face, but her unrestrained smug grin cut through it with such cheekiness that makes Pan pull a face in reply.

"Shut up." Night sticks out her tongue teasingly in reply, before bracing herself once more as Herc tackles through another set of speed bumps with varying amounts of ease. It isn't too long before the ground underneath the van's wheels begins to crunch with dirt and gravel, the view outside of the front windshield showing the stark contrast of an imposing forest and the dead, yellow, grassy hills to their left.

Herc parks in the middle of the dirt road before swivelling around the front seat and addressing Pan and Night. "I trust you two know exactly what you need to do, should your contracts actually expire." They nod. "Ostheim will radio in, worse case scenario. For now, stick tight, be ready and let's ditch the car. Nobody's going to be missing it."

"Is that what you tell yourself every time you steal one?" Night asks, almost innocently. Herc's eyes narrows as he clicks his tongue, glaring at Pan in annoyance.

"She better not be picking this up from you."

The corners of Pan's mouth twitch up at this, crossing her arms and tapping her fingers, "Is that such a bad thing?"

Herc's already pulling open the driver seat door, muttering something under his breath that sounded like "-had a week to say why," and shutting the door once more.

The two girls snort at his display, Night placing a hand on the handle of the van door. She's still a little unsteady in her movement, as her expression is pulled down heavy with nauseous anxiety. Pan checks her watch, thirty-three minutes blinking up back at her and knowing Night's watch read the same numbers.

"You're a Hellraiser," Pan said quietly, nudging Night's shoulder. "You're a soldier, and you can fight, you've been ready for this."

Night doesn't say anything, opening the door and allowing the brightness of the outdoors spill into their small stolen moving van. Blinking, Pan refocused on the scenery in front of her. It all just seemed too nice of a day to be dragged down to hell. Pan slips down from the van's entrance, feeling grounded with the crunchy yellow grass beneath her feet. Turning back, she offers Night her arm to help her out of the van, wondering how peculiar it would be to lose each other on a sunny, Tuesday afternoon.

**Author's Note:**

> gonna call this a one shot for now bc i dont really know where to go from here but here u go babes


End file.
